The practice of sharing syringes without adequate sterilization between successive users is a major contributor to the transfer of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Hepatitis with subsequent severe repercussions for the sufferer and at a high cost to society for supporting and providing medical attention to sufferers.
Furthermore, health professionals may be exposed to used syringes which can lead to inadvertent needlestick injuries and possible exposure to infective pathogens or other contaminants.
In response to this problem, retractable syringes have been developed with the aim of preventing syringe re-use and/or needlestick injury by used syringes.
In developing such retractable syringes, relatively complicated retractable needle assemblies have been devised which often are adapted for a particular syringe barrel shape or configuration and cannot be readily mounted to a syringe barrel having a different shape or configuration. This is particularly a problem with glass syringe barrels which are generally in short supply, many of which glass barrels do not have a desired shape or configuration for mounting a retractable needle assembly.